6-1 Education - 2014.pmd

258 State of Human Rights in 2014

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EducationThe State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of

the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.Constitution of Pakistan

Article 25(A)(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least

in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall becompulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generallyavailable and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basisof merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the humanpersonality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights andfundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendshipamong all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities ofthe United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

Universal Declaration of Human RightsArticle 26

States Parties agree that Education of the Child shall be directed to:(a) The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physicalabilities to their fullest potential;(b) The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;(c) The development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own culturalidentity, language and values, for the national values of the country in whichthe child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and forcivilizations different from his or her own;(d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the


spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendshipamong all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons ofindigenous origin;(e) The development of respect for the natural environment.

Convention on the Rights of the ChildArticle 29

♦ The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right ofeveryone to education. They agree that education shall be directed to the fulldevelopment of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and shallstrengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Theyfurther agree that education shall enable all persons to participate effectivelyin a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among allnations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups, and further the activities ofthe United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

♦ The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that, with aview to achieving the full realization of this right:

o Primary education shall be compulsory and available freeto all;

o Secondary education in its different forms, including technicaland vocational secondary education, shall be made generally availableand accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular by theprogressive introduction of free education;

o Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all,on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by theprogressive introduction of free education;

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural RightsArticle 13

Education: a fundamental human rightEducation is a prerequisite for the exercise of all other human rights. The

UN committee that oversees the implementation of the International Covenanton Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Pakistan ratified in2008, calls education both a human right in itself and an indispensable meansof realizing other human rights. Education plays a vital role in empoweringthose groups and individuals who are vulnerable and susceptible to exploitation,and is strongly linked with the quality and dignity of life.

After the 18th constitutional amendment, the constitution now recognizesfree primary education as a fundamental right. Both federal and provinciallaws have been promulgated to implement the right. Yet more than nine millionchildren do not receive primary or secondary education, and literacy rateshave remained stagnant. Entering 2015, Pakistan seemed failing to meet itsMillennium Development Goal of providing universal primary education bythe yearend. The net primary school enrolment rate in 2012-2013 showed a

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mere 1% increase from 2010-2011. There were significant gender disparitiesand differences between rural and urban areas. The combined federal/provincialbudgetary allocation to education was the lowest in South Asia, at 2% of theGross Domestic Product (GDP).

Equally distressing was the quality of education provided in both publicand private primary schools in the country. According to the ICESCR, educationmust be directed to the “full development of the human personality and thesense of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights andfundamental freedoms.” Education must enable all persons to “participateeffectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendshipamong all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups.”

The question is whether what is being taught is enabling them to becomemore tolerant and progressive, or whether it is perpetuating the same prejudices,bigotry, and biases that have been slowly causing decay of the social fabric ofthe country.

2014 was a unique year for education in Pakistan. Violent attacks oneducational institutions were widespread, especially in Balochistan and thenorth-west areas. The year ended with one of the most indiscriminate andbrutal attacks on an educational institution in recent history, when the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan killed 150 people, a vast majority of them children, in anarmy public school in Peshawar. On the other hand, Malala Yousafzai wasawarded the Nobel Peace Prize (along with Kailash Satyarthi of India) for her“struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for theright of all children to education”. The award symbolized the hope that nochild in Pakistan, regardless of gender, would be deprived of education. Whilethe year started with Malala being ostracized and rejected by various segmentsin the country for furthering a “western agenda” and maligning the image ofPakistan internationally, it ended with a more universal consensus that violencewas a major impediment to education in Pakistan.

International rankings and literacy ratesSimilar to previous years, Pakistan scored poorly in all major global human

development rankings, performing even worse than neighboring countries withsmaller GDPs. One key reason for Pakistan’s abysmal performance remainedpoor indicators in education.

A UNESCO report released in February 2014 revealed that Pakistan hadthe second highest number of out-of-school children in the world, a staggering5.5 million, only after Nigeria. Pakistan also has the highest number of illiterateadults in the world, after India and China. The report also states that Pakistanis among the 21 countries facing an “extensive” learning crisis, whichencapsulates a number of indices, such as enrolment, dropout rates, academic


performance and literacy.According to the 2014 Human Development Report “Sustaining Human

Progress: reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience”, published by theUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Pakistan remained in thegroup of countries with low human development, showing little sign ofimprovement.

Pakistan ranked at 146 out of a total 187 countries on the index, scored0.537 points on HDI, an improvement of a mere 0.002 points from last year’sscore of 0.535. One striking reason for this low score was Pakistan’sperformance in education. Pakistan’s mean duration for schooling was a dismal4.4 years, and expected years of schooling only 7.7 years. This is in starkcomparison to Pakistan’s neighboring countries, where the number is muchhigher. For example, expected years of schooling in India according to thereport are 11.7 years; Nepal, 12.4 years; and Bhutan, 12.4 years.

Reiterating the same pattern, Pakistan was ranked at 129 out of the 144economies around the world in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) GlobalCompetitiveness Report (GCR) 2014-2015, released in September 2014. Lowenrollment in primary, secondary and tertiary education was said to be one ofthe main reasons for a decline in Pakistan’s competitiveness ranking. Accordingto the report, at 129, Pakistan ranks the lowest among the SAARC membercountries: India ranks at 71, Sri Lanka at 73, Nepal at 102, Bhutan at 103 andBangladesh at 109.

Government policies, priorities, and practiceAfter the 18th amendment to the constitution, education is a provincial

subject, and free education for all children between five and 16 now is aconstitutional duty. Like the federal government, provincial governments toohave declared education a priority and have frequently vouched to improve theabysmal indicators for education across all provinces. But these promiseshave not translated into policy yet.

Federal governmentThe educational budget for the fiscal year 2014-15 has been put at Rs 63

billion, a little over 2% of the federal budget. 73% of the budget has beenallocated for Higher Education Commission (HEC), 9.38% for the CapitalAdministration and Development Division (CADD), 5.1% for the Ministry ofEducation and Training, while 4.62 % has been apportioned for educationalinstitutions working in cantonment areas.

Disappointingly, in real terms, the federal education budget shows a decreaseof over Rs. 1 billion; after accounting for inflation, the education budget hasbeen reduced by 11%, compared to the 2013-2014 federal budget. In 2013-2014, the federal government devised a “National Plan of Action for MDGS(Millennium Development Goals) Acceleration Framework” (MAF), which

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commits the federal government to gradually increasing budgetary allocationsfor education from 2% of GDP to 4% by 2018 (which is still far below the 7%of GDP by 2015 target recommended in the National Education Policy, 2009).Going by the current trends, it seems unlikely that the government’s ownmodest goals regarding increase in spending on education will be met in thecoming years.

PunjabIn 2014-2015, the Punjab government allocated Rs 273 billion for education,

which amounts to 26.1% of Punjab’s total budget of Rs 1.044 trillion. This isthe second highest provincial allocation to education after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Out of the Rs 273 billion, Punjab earmarked around Rs 48 billion fordevelopment, which includes Rs 28.1 billion for school education, Rs 14 billionfor higher education, Rs 2.4 billion for literacy and Rs 2.9 billion for sportsand youth affairs. But the lion’s share of the budget, Rs 224.69 billion, wasearmarked for current expenditure, which includes recurring costs such assalaries.

SindhSindh earmarked Rs 145 billion for education in 2014-2105, which is

21% of the total budget of Rs 686 billion. In 2013-14, the allocation wasmarginally lower at Rs 134 billion.

However, the development budget for education in Sindh was reduced to


Rs 10 billion, a dismal 7% of the education budget, compared to the previousyear’s Rs 16 billion.

The remaining budget includes Rs 15 billion for different elementary,primary and secondary education schemes and Rs 5 billion for universitiesand higher education.

Khyber PakhtunkhwaKhyber Pakhtukhwa earmarked Rs 111 billion for education, which is

27.4% of its total Rs 404.8 billion budget, the highest of all provinces.According to the KP government, Rs 14 billion of the budget was allocated

for development, the same as in 2013-2014, while the other Rs 97 billion wereearmarked for current expenditure.

The programmes highlighted in the new budget in KP include Rs 240million for promoting girls education in Kohistan and Torghar; Rs 2 billion foradditional rooms, toilets, building renovations, water and power connectionswith community collaboration; Rs 500 million for the CM Endowment Fundfor deserving university students; Rs 2.5 billion for free academic books tillintermediate level; and Rs 1.75 billion to raise the status of 100 madrasas toprimary schools.

BalochistanThe Balochistan government raised its education budget by Rs 3 billion

from 2013-2014, allocating Rs 28 billion for 2014-2015, which is 13% ofBalochistan’s total outlay of Rs 215 billion.

Rs 11 billion, 39% of the education budget, were earmarked fordevelopment, which includes establishment of two universities and 14 newcolleges, and upgrading of 200 primary schools to middle schools.

Primary and secondary educationDespite efforts to enforce the prohibition of corporal punishment in schools

across the country, the practice continues unabated. In March 2014, theMinistry of Law, Justice and Human Rights announced the launch of a nationalcampaign against corporal punishment, in collaboration with the South AsiaInitiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) and the South AsiaCoordinating Group on Action against Violence against Children (SACG), andreaffirmed its commitment to the complete prohibition of the practice. AProhibition of Corporal Punishment Bill 2014, which would prohibit the practicein all settings except the family home, was laid before the National Assemblyin March 2014.

Enrollment rates and the conditions in schools in the country continued tobe dismal. The Pakistan Education Atlas, 2013, produced jointly by the Academyof Educational Planning and Management (Ministry of Education) and the

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World Food Programme, released in March 2014, revealed that 32% childrenaged 5 to 9 were deprived of schools. The atlas also documented that 17% ofthe country’s primary schools were based in single rooms, and even threeteachers per school on an average were not available. The report stated that8% of schools did not even have buildings; 35% students went to schoollocated in buildings without four-wall boundaries; 37% schools did not havetoilet and sanitary facilities; 45% schools did not have electricity; and studentsin only 64% of primary schools in the country had access to drinking water.

A report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), entitled “Education Reformin Pakistan”, released in June 2014, expressed concern at teacher absenteeismin public schools and corrupt practices, including bribing education departmentemployees to obtain jobs and then sharing salaries with them. The reporthighlighted that political links were also often a factor in appointments, postingsand transfers, which resulted in poor quality control of teaching.

The state of primary and secodary schooling varied significantly acrossprovinces. Punjab fared much better than the other provinces, with more than80% children enrolled in schools, and according to a UNESCO report, childrenin Punjab exhibited better mathematical skills in comparsion to children inSindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Of most concern remained thesituation of schooling in Balochistan and KP.

BalochistanChild education in Balochistan, like other human development indicators,

lags far behind other provinces.According to Alif Ailaan, the dropout rate at primary schools is very

alarming in Balochistan. Around 865,337 children enroll at primary schools

Survival rates.


and the rate falls to 191,300 when they reach middle school. However, 57%of children leave school without completing their primary education.

Public schools in Balochistan are in an appalling condition. Out of a total12,347 state-run schools in Balochistan, only 6% are high schools. At least76% of school-going children are enrolled at state-run schools, while 19% arestudying at private schools and 5% are enrolled at religious seminaries.

Out of these, 216 schools are not functional and the quality of educationgenerally is much poorer than in other provinces. Not a single district ofBalochistan has topped any ranking in Pakistan when it comes to education.More than 14% of teachers do not teach at all but still draw salaries, while37% schools are housed in single rooms. Of more than 10,000 schools inBalochistan, only 1,662 schools–less than 17%- are provided with electricity,while only 2,000 schools in the province have toilets.

Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik said the government did nothave enough resources to overcome the challenges in the education sector. Hesaid his government needed Rs63 billion to increase enrolment in schools.According PkMAP Senator Abdul Rauf the federal government should acceptresponsibility for the 65 years of neglect because of which education was in adismal state in the province, instead of placing sole responsibility on theprovincial government after the 18th amendment.

Khyber PakhtunkhwaMore than 2.5 million children are still out of school across the province

of KP.The KP District Education Management Information System (EMIS) 2013-

14 report states that the total population of boys between the ages of 5 and 16

A teacher and his students study under date palms in Jan Mohammad Brohi Gothwhere the only school building cannot be used as its structure is considered dangerous.

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is close to 3.7 million. However, around 736,000 of them are out of schools inthe 25 districts of the province. The situation is far worse for the over 3.4million girls of the province as around half of them, more than 1.7 million, arenot receiving an education.

Low student enrollment is not the only problem facing education in theprovince. Of the over 78,000 sanctioned posts for teachers at the primarylevel, more than 6,800 positions, almost 10%, are vacant. On the intermediatelevel, 7,409 of the 21,494 sanctioned posts for teachers, almost 33%, areunoccupied. For secondary education, 6,315 of the 30,844 posts sanctionedby the government are vacant.

According to the Alif Ailaan’s Pakistan District Education Ranking 2014report, 14% of the total teachers are absent from school on any given day inthe province.

Higher educationHigher education in 2014 saw two significant highlights: the Higher

Education Commission’s (HEC) attempts at stifling debate and discourse inthe country’s universities by prohibiting any activities that challenged the“ideology and principles of Pakistan, and/or perspective of the government ofPakistan”; and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PMDC) attempt toabolish its merit-based admission policy for medical colleges in favour of 50%reserved seats for boys and girls.

At a model United Nations event at the International Islamic UniversityIslamabad, the presentation of a mock Israeli cultural stall resulted in a violentprotest from the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba, Jamaat-i-Islami’s student wing,disrupting the event and causing participants to flee the campus.

The stall was set up as part of cultural activities designed to represent theStates participating in the conference, modeled around sessions of the UnitedNations. It was a display of the students’ exercising their right to “promoteunderstanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religiousgroups”, as provided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

However, it resulted in a Higher Education Commission issuing anotification, warning all universities and colleges against “...any activity that inany manner challenge[s] the ideology and principles of Pakistan, and/orperspective of the government of Pakistan.”

Implementation of the notification, which would include prohibitingstudents from questioning the government’s policies, would have a disastrousimpact on the exercise of the right to education in Pakistan.

Educationists, activists and prominent academics raised their voice againstthe HEC’s notification, arguing that it amounted to an unlawful interference


with freedom of expression on the campus.On October 30, two days after the HEC’s notification, the Prime Minister’s

Office called on the HEC to amend school, college and university curriculumto “promote the appreciation of the vital necessity of constitutional democracy...deepen the understanding of the constitutional democratic process andpluralism”, aims that cannot be met if students blindly follow the “perspectiveof the government of Pakistan”, as desired by HEC.

In September, Pakistan Medical Dental Council (PMDC) announced theabolition of merit-based admissions in favor of implementing a 50-50 quotafor girls and boys seeking admission to the country’s medical and dental colleges.The PMDC’s President, Dr Masood Hameed argued that out of the 14,000medical students graduating in Pakistan every year, 70% were women, butonly 50%went on to practise medicine. Given that the government spent Rs2.4million on each medical student admitted on a general merit seat, half the girlsadmitted on merit seats not practising was a huge loss to the country’sinvestment.

The PMDC’s claim that women are less likely to practise medicine thanmen after graduating is supported by record. However, instead of attemptingto change the larger issues of patriarchy and sexism that plague the personaland professional lives of women and are a cause of a significant proportion ofwomen with medical degrees not practising medicine, depriving young girlsof getting a medical education appears to be a dangerous option.

The Lahore High Court held the quota unconstitutional and quashed thequota policy for its discriminatory treatment of men and women. However,the PMDC’s express intention to challenge the ruling in the Supreme Courtshows that equal educational opportunities for women in Pakistan remain adistant dream.

The unequal opportunities for girls and women in the country wereillustrated in the World Economic Forum 2014 gender parity report, in whichPakistan ranked 103 out of 142 countries in tertiary education for women.

Pakistan’s performance in higher and tertiary education enrollment alsosaw a decline in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report,in which Pakistan went down to 129th place out of 144, as opposed to 121st

place out of 148 countries in 2013.The Higher Education Commission remained engulfed in various other

controversies. Following the Islamabad High Court’s order to the governmentto appoint a regular HEC chairperson, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointedDr Mukhtar Ahmed to the post. The appointment, however, was been challengedin the Islamabad High Court. The petitioner claimed that since the appointmentwas made without conducting interviews, it negated the competitive process

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of selection, suitability and fitness.Another issue plaguing higher education was that of sexual harassment.

Multiple cases of sexual harassment of female students were reported, even inillustrious private universities. However, reporting harassment and ensuringaccountability for perpetrators was not an easy task.

In June 2014, a female student complained that a teacher of Quaid-i-Azam University had sexually harassed her. The accused teacher was the headof the department and the student expressed concern that no staff member orstudent would dare to testify against him as long as he remained in the positionof power. The university, however, held an internal inquiry whilst the accusedmaintained his position, and found that the allegations were unsubstantiated.

The university proceeded on the complaint under its own Efficiency andDiscipline (E&D) Rules, 1973, as opposed to the recently passed Protectionagainst Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010. The universityholds the position that the Act does not apply to student-teacher relationships,a clear misreading of the law. The promotors of the enactment maintain that itdoes apply to students and teachers both.

Some parliamentarians, in particular Senator Farhatullah Babar, haveattempted to amend the law to explicitly bring colleges and universities underits purview. However, the amendment has still not been adopted.

Private schoolsAccording to a World Bank policy paper entitled “Private School

Participation in Pakistan”, released in May, about one-fifth of children go toprivate school in Pakistan, which translates into roughly one-third of all studentsgiven the sizeable share of the country’s children that are out of school. Thepolicy paper also found, as expected, that private school students tended tocome from urban,wealthier, and moreeducated householdsthan governmentschool students.Further, privateschooling is highlyconcentrated inPakistan, with over 50percent of privateschool studentssituated in ten out ofthe country’s 113districts. These 10 Private schools continued to charge high fees.


districts, most of them situated in the northern Punjab, tend to be more urbanand wealthier.

Aware of their monopoly over education for the affording classes, andlargely free from government regulation, private schools continued to increasefees at whim all over the country. That private schools were more aboutprofit-making as opposed to realizing the right of education for Pakistan’schildren was illustrated by the concerted efforts of private schools to resist aprovision of the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Ordinance 2014,which made it binding on private schools to admit 10% students from Grade1 to Grade 10 from disadvantaged or poor families and offer them free education.

Representatives of private schools in a meeting of Punjab Assembly’sStanding Committee on Education opposed this provision arguing it might leadto “psychological problems” among students admitted through this policy.

Similarly, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government lost a legal battle over feeconcession to students studying in private institutions after the Supreme Courtoverturned a February 1, 2011 judgment of the Peshawar High Court over thelawfulness of Article 106(ii) of the Education Code of NWFP, 1935, whichsays when two or more siblings attend the same school or different schools inthe province, only the brother or sister in the highest class of a school will payfull fee whereas the other brother or sister will pay one half.

The Peshawar High Court in its 2011 judgment had expressed concernthat education had become an industry and an enterprise. The court said thatif humanistic and philanthropic considerations were divorced from the operationof private schools, the whole purpose of education would be defeated.

Private schools, however, challenged the judgment in the Supreme Court,which upheld their appeal on the ground the code had no legal force, and itsoperation would be manifestly unfair to private schools forced to cut schoolfees by half for some students.

The widely held perception that private schools were more progressiveand tolerant than government schools also witnessed a reality check when AllPakistan Private Schools Federation, which claims to represent 150,000 schoolsin the country, organized “I am not Malala Day”, condemning the Nobel PeacePrize winner for allegedly promoting an ideology that was against her countryand religion.

They argued that Malala’s description of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Versesin her memoir “I am Malala” supported Rushdie, making it offensive andagainst the ideology of Pakistan.

In the passage in question, Malala quotes her father as saying the bookwas “offensive to Islam”, but that Muslims should be able to read the bookand come up with their own response.

Private schools, similar to their public counterparts, were guilty of corrupt

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practices, albeit of a different kind. According to officials in the Rawalpindiexcise and taxation office, for example, over 700 private schools across thedistrict had not paid their taxes for the last 10 years despite receiving severalnotices from the authorities. A Land Revenue official reported that out of1,000 private educational institutions in the district, only 300 schools paidtheir taxes.

The prevalence of corporal punishment was also reported in private schools.In Faisalabad, a teacher beat a six-year old for “disrupting the class”, breakinghis arm. Various other incidents of violence were reported from across Punjab.

In other parts of Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan, private schoolsbecame a major victim of extremism when in May 2014, an Islamist extremistgroup sent pamphlets to private schools in Turbat and Panjgur asking them tostop co-education and teaching in English language. The threats and pursuantviolence caused private schools in the two districts to shut down for manymonths. The school closure, coupled with a fear of violence, was a greatblow to an already dismal state of education in the province.

Madrasa educationThe attack on an army public school in Peshawar, killing over a 150

people, once again brought madrasa reform and scrutiny into the limelight.Prime Minister Sharif’s 20-point counter-terrorism agenda after the attackincluded prompt regularization of madrasas. Commentators and legislators alldemanded that the government ban foreign funding to the madrasas involvedin any type of militant training.

According to Jinnah Institute, more than 25,000 seminaries are registered

Students light earthen lamps for the victims of the attack by Taliban gunmenon an army-run school in Peshawar.


across Pakistan, accounting for about 200,000 full-time students. The numberis as high as 1.5 million students if those enrolled part-time are included.

The federal government’s National Internal Security Policy (NISP),published in February 2014,identified madrasas as being potential securitythreats because of their ability to “spread extremism”. The policy documentrefers to “troublesome aspects of these madrasas, which impinge on nationalinternal security, include financing from unidentified sources; publication anddistribution of hate material”. The policy specifies that “not all madrasas are aproblem”, but suggests that some have “taken a dangerous turn in cultivatingnon-tolerant and violent religious attitudes”, spreading “radicalization literature”and preaching “complete rejection of other beliefs”, while engaging in “sectarianindoctrination”. The report also says that “a large number of terrorists eitherare, or have been students of madrasas where they were brainwashed to takeup arms against the state”. Finally, it calls for an overhaul of the madrasaeducation system, integrating it with the national educational system by“supporting their administration, financial audit and curriculum accreditation”.

The National Assembly too supported the government’s plans to reformmadrasas by adopting a resolution aimed at improving and regulating studiesat religious seminaries. The resolution, moved by PPP lawmaker Nafisa Shah,called on the government to “take steps to improve and regulate madrassaeducation”.

The government’s move to reform the country’s madrasa system wasvehemently opposed by religious parties in the country. Jamaat-e-Islami calledthe National Internal Security Policy a ploy of the “secular lobby”; Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, the PML-N’s coalition partner, warned the governmentagainst interfering in administrative, financial and curriculum-related mattersof seminaries; and Secretary General of Wafaq-ul-Madaris Al-Arabia, MaulanaHanif Jalandhari, announced organizing rallies across the country to protectwhat he called the independence of the madrasas.

The Jamia Hafsa Madrasa in Islamabad renamed its library after OsamaBin Laden as a tribute to the man they considered a “hero of Islam” and a“martyr”. The chief cleric of the madrasa is Maulana Abdul Aziz, who wasacquitted of all charges related to the 2007 siege of Lal Masjid in September2013.

Conditions at many madrasas remained bleak and corporal punishmentwas a common practice. There were reports from Daska, Kahna, Vehari,Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Lahore, amongst others, in Punjab about teachersassaulting and at times causing severe injuries to their students. In March, thepolice took a 15-year-old boy in protective custody after he escaped from amadrasa in Lahore’s Amar Sadhu village. The boy reported that he was kept inchains for six days at the madrasa. In July, 115 people, including children,

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were recovered from a madrasa in Haripur, tied in chains.There were also reports, mostly from FATA, that militants forced families

to send their children to madrasas. Some demanded large sums of moneyfrom parents who refused, while others declared western system of educationa sin.

The police claimed to have arrested 48 foreign students from registeredand unregistered seminaries during a search operation in various cities andtowns of Punjab. The operation was planned after “suspicious activities” werenoted at a few seminaries, after which the police raided more than 10 madrasasiin Lahore, Faisalabad, Chakwal and Dera Ghazi Khan.

Curriculum reformThe right to education includes promoting understanding, tolerance and

friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups. In Pakistan,however, 2014 once again saw not just millions of children out of school, butalso that the so-called “educated class” became more intolerant and bigoted.Educationists argue that anideologically-driven education is a main reasonbehind the attitude.

In General Zia-ul-Haq’s regime, orthodoxy was actively infused in thenational curriculum. Historical facts were distorted and the teaching of socialsciences was aimed at fostering religious intolerance and xenophobia. Violentjihad and religious martyrdom were idolized, resistance to Indian rule in Kashmirwas portrayed as a religious duty, and children were taught that all Hinduswere enemies of Pakistan and Muslims.

Since the 1990s, successive governments have backtracked on theirpromises to carry out a comprehensive review of the curriculum for reform.This changed somewhat towards the end of General Musharraf’s rule, whentwo national committees made some efforts towards reform, first through theNational Curriculum, 2006, and then the National Education Policy, 2009.History was expanded to include the pre-Islamic past and the struggles ofboth major Indian parties, the All India Muslim League and Indian NationalCongress, against colonial rule and towards independence. Yet, despite theseimprovements, the revised national curriculum still prescribes teaching ofIslamic ideology and rituals in subjects that are mandatory regardless of astudent’s religion; the Pakistani nation is still defined almost exclusively interms of Muslim identity; and textbooks of history are replete with inaccuraciesand bias.

Some efforts at reform have been undermined by political developments,such as the JI’s alliance with PTI in the KP government following the 2013elections. The JI has objected to revising the provincial primary and secondaryschool syllabus for Islamic studies, a process initiated by the ANP government


after the 18th amendment was passed. In particular, the syllabus for Islamicstudies for Grades 9 and 10 highlighted the importance of jihad. Educationistssuggested that verses on jihad be taught to intermediate students because thestudents in Grade 9 and 10 were too young to understand their real meaning.Because of JI’s resistance to this change, it remains to be seen whether thecurriculum reform will be implemented in the province.

In addition, to appease its coalition partner, the PTI government in KP alsoagreed to remove allegedly “objectionable material” from the textbooks ofprimary schools. The “objectionable materials” included printing of picturesof minor girls without a dupatta, Christmas cakes, Cross emblem on anambulance instead of Crescent, and the use of good morning instead of AssalamuAlaikum in some instances. According to educationists, implementation ofthese changes would be a big blow to the movement in KP to promote peace,coexistence and tolerance.

In Punjab, the provincial government passed The Punjab Curriculum andTextbook Ordinance, 2014, in September to settle the issue of the overlapbetween the mandates of the Punjab Textbook Board and the Punjab CurriculumAuthority. The Ordinance merged their functions, and constituted a new PunjabCurriculum and Textbook Board.

Recognizing the importance of curriculum reform to promote toleranceand respect for religious minorities, hundreds of students from Azad Jammuand Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) andother parts of the country passed a unanimous resolution in Lahore on September10, urging the federal and provincial governments to recognize the contributionmade by minorities and celebrate them as national heroes. The Bargad, a non-government organisation for youth development, in collaboration with the Punjabgovernment, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Umeed Jawan andother NGOs arranged the event.

In another development, the Lahore High Court on August 29 issued noticesto the federal and Punjab governments to include the 1973 constitution inUrdu in the syllabus for students. The petitioner argued, and the court agreed,that all citizens of Pakistan must be introduced to fundamental rights, principlesof policy and democracy at a young age.

In January 2014, the Pakistan People’s Party co-chairperson BilawalBhutto-Zardari criticized the teaching of distorted history, Pakistan Studiesand Islamic Studies in the country, and committed the government in Sindhprovince his party ruled, to introducing more secular and balanced textbooksin the curriculum. Following on from there, in July the spokesperson of theSenior Minister for Education and Literacy stated that the Advisory Committeeon Curriculum and Textbooks Reforms would review the curriculum to identifygaps and scope for improvement. He said the committee would exclude any

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material from the curriculum that promoted discrimination on the basis ofgender, ethnicity or religion.

At the federal level, a major controversy erupted when on October 30,Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed the Higher Education Commission torevise the curriculum of Pakistan Studies, English and Urdu of all primary,middle and secondary schools as well as all colleges and universities, afterconsultation with and approval of the provincial governments.

The revisions must include chapters aimed at promoting appreciation ofthe vital necessity of constitutional democracy for Pakistan’s progress andidentity; deepening the understanding of the merits of the constitutionaldemocratic process and pluralism in national and international context;strengthening the knowledge base of students to counter the commonmisunderstandings surrounding constitutional democracy; and enhancingcritical appreciation of modes of accountability within the constitutional processlike judicial oversight, media assessment, freedom of speech, right toinformation and elections.

To achieve the objectives, the PM directed the Higher EducationCommission to coordinate with academics, universities and textbook publishersto develop within two months grade-appropriate material, including fables,stories, essays, speeches, teaching guides, teacher training material, extra-curricular activities, examinations and other relevant interventions, for all classesfrom the primary school to the university level, for public and private institutions,from the next academic year.

While analysts, educationists and political parties commended the emphasison curriculum reform to promote diversity, tolerance and the rule of law, theyexpressed reservations as to how the PM could direct the HEC, a federal

Parents, students and residents of Panjgur protest against threats to schools.


institution, with designing the curriculum for primary and secondary schools,which after the 18th amendment was a provincial subject.

The notification came at a time when provincial governments were holdingnegotiations with the Centre over the constitution of a National CurriculumCouncil to bring uniformity in the education system after the 18th amendment.While the federal government preferred a council with more powers, the KPand Sindh governments pushed for an advisory council, which could onlymake non-binding recommendations to the provinces.

At a meeting of the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference(IPEMC) in October, all provinces, except for Sindh, approved the formationof the National Curriculum Council, with at least one and a maximum of threemembers from the federal territory, each province, Gilgit-Baltistan, AJK andFederally Administered Tribal Areas. However, the terms of references andworking procedure of the Council were to be decided in an IPEMC meetingscheduled for January 2015.

Violence, unsafe conditions and the pursuit of educationA major challenge to education in Pakistan remains the prevalent insecurity,

violence and attacks by various armed groups in different parts of the country.A survey of conflicts in 70 countries between 2009 and 2013, published bythe US-based Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack revealed thatviolent assaults on educational establishments were far more widespread thanpreviously reported, and a total of 9,600 schools were damaged or destroyedby attacks in a period of four years. According to the survey, Pakistan was theworst-affected country, where more than 800 schools were deliberately attackedbetween 2009 and 2012 alone, and many were destroyed through explosions.

The year started off on a violent note for education in the country. OnJanuary 6, 2014, when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a governmentschool in the Shia-dominated Ibrahimzai area of Hangu district after a 14-year-old boy, Aitzaz Hasan, spotted him attempting to enter the school andtried to stop him. Killed on the spot, Aitzaz is remember as the “hero of Hangu”,and has been awarded many awards, including the Sitara-e-Shujaat,posthumously. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a militant organization, claimed responsibilityfor this attack.

On January 15, at least 23 students on their way home from a quizcompetition were killed in a school van crash. The incident highlighted theunsafe conditions of travel for students. Three teachers and the van driveralso were killed when the van and a truck collided near Nawabshah, about 170miles northeast of Karachi. The youths attended the Bright Future Public Schoolin the town of Daulatpur.

The year ended with one of the most indiscriminate and brutal attacks on

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an educational institution in recent history, not just in Pakistan but world-over.On December 16, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan attacked an army publicschool in Peshawar, killing 150 people, including at least 136 children. TheTTP said the attack was in response to the military operation, Zarb-e-Azb, inNorth Waziristan.

Many other attacks on schools and teachers were reported in north-westernPakistan throughout the year. In February, unidentified motorcyclists shotdead three schoolteachers who were on their way home following schoolduty, again in the Hangu district. In August, a blast in Bajaur Agency killed sixpeople, including three female teachers and two school children. And in October,unidentified attackers killed a public school teacher and injured two children ina grenade attack at Askari Public School in the Shabqadar area of Peshawar.The school had previously received letters threatening attacks if students werenot directed to wear shalwar kameez instead of “western” attire.

Violent attacks on educational institutions were also one of the biggestobstacles in the pursuit of education in Balochistan.

In May 2014, masked men entered an English learning centre in Panjgurand threatened the teachers and students to stop teaching English as it wasforbidden under Sharia law. A militant organization Tanzeem-ul-Islami-ul-Furqanclaimed responsibility for the threats. Due to similar acts of threats andintimidation, all private educational institutions and English learning centreswere closed in Panjgur for more than three months. When the institutionsfinally reopened in August, teachers reported that attendance was less than40%.

To make matters worse, in September 2014, armed men set fire to aprivate school in the Dasht area of Turbat, a western district of Balochistan. Agroup calling itself “al-Jihad” claimed responsibility for the attack. The groupalso distributed pamphlets with warnings that private schools should “stopimparting western education, particularly in English” to children in the school,and claimed the attack was part of a ‘holy war’ against western-style education.

Many students were forced to migrate from Panjgur and Turbat to Quettaor Karachi after the escalation in attacks on schools and colleges in the twodistricts.

Sporadic incidents of violence were also reported in Karachi. In April2014, unidentified militants killed three students of a madrasa in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town in Karachi. A few days later, at least three madrasa students wereshot dead in the North Nazimabad town of Karachi.

Another facet of violence was the presence and operation of militant studentgroups in universities. There were many reports of students, mostly affiliatedwith the IJT, harassing and threatening teachers and other students. In February


2014, for example, members of Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) and Pakhtun StudentsFederation (PSF) exchanged firing at Peshawar University over Valentine’sDay.

According to reports, IJT activists stopped students from celebratingValentine’s Day and insisted that they observed “Haya Day” instead, afterwhich IJT and PSF activists opened fire on each other, injuring at least fivestudents.

Again in September 2014, many students were injured when IJT clashedwith the administration of Punjab University in Lahore. The administrationtried to remove IJT’s stands in front of one of the university’s auditoriums,leading to a fight. A few days later, PU Hall Council Chairman Professor DrMuhammad Akhtar’s house was attacked, allegedly by the IJT in reaction tothe administration’s refusal to allow IJT to set up admission stalls.

Gender discrimination“I’m thankful to my father for not clipping my wings — for letting me to

fly and achieve my goals, for showing to the world that a girl is not supposedto be a slave. A girl has the power to go forward in her life. And she’s not onlya mother, she’s not only a sister, she’s not only a wife. But a girl should havean identity. She should be recognized and she has equal rights with a boy.”

These were the words of Malala Yousafzai as she accepted the NobelPeace Prize at the age of only 17. Her speech highlights the impediments thatexist between girls and education in the country, and shows that the fight forequal educational opportunities for girls in the country will be slow and long.

Global reports and indexes confirm that while education for boys andgirls remains in disarray in Pakistan, girls suffer more from this dismal state of

Pakistan ranks eleventh-worst in terms of equal access to education.

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affairs than their male counterparts. The Global Gender Gap Report 2014,published by the World Economic Forum, assessed 142 countries on howwell resources and opportunities were divided among male and femalepopulations. Pakistan was placed at the 142nd position, followed only by Yemen.

According to the index, Pakistan ranks second-worst in economicparticipation and opportunity, and eleventh-worst in terms of equal access toeducation.

According to the Pakistan Population Council, a research and capacity-building group, poverty is an obvious adverse factor for girls’ schooling. Whenlarge families can only afford school for some of their children, daughtersoften lose out to sons. Other factors that hindered girls’ education includeddifficulty in access and long distances to school (with dangers of sexualviolence); cultural constraints; early marriage and/or pregnancy; and lack ofwater and sanitation in schools.

Education for females has also been a target for militants operating in thecountry. More than half of the schools destroyed by the Taliban in Swat, forexample, were meant for girls.

Recommendations1. The right to education enshrined in the constitution should be

expanded to reflect Pakistan’s international human rights obligations, includingthe ideal that education should aim at promoting understanding, toleranceand friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups. Ahealthy debate on curriculum reform should be generated and all historicaland other errors and biases in the textbooks removed. Human rights should beincluded in the curriculum starting from primary school, as promised by Pakistanin its Universal Periodic Review, 2012.

2. The budgetary allocation for education must be increased to at least4% of the country’s GDP to reflect the government’s claim that education is acornerstone for development, peace and harmony. The abysmal conditions ofschools must immediately be corrected and minimum standards of comfort andsafety enforced in all schools.

3. A stringent, across-the-board law to prohibit corporal punishment inschools and madrasas must be enacted and care must be taken to ensure thatthe law is also implemented.

4. The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act,2010, should be elaborated to expressly cover harassment of students ineducational institutions. Efforts must be made to ensure that girls are providedwith a safe and comfortable environment to study. Training on how to begender sensitive should be provided to all teachers and a review of the


curriculum carried out to ensure it is gender sensitive. The government shouldalso ensure that public schools, especially schools for girls, are situated closeto communities, especially in less developed rural areas, to encourage girls toattend school without fear for their safety.

5. The government should take measures to prevent the occurrence ofattacks and threats against educational institutions, including those whichundermine women and girls’ fundamental right to an education, and to ensurethat perpetrators of such acts of violence are promptly collared, prosecutedand punished. Educational institutions subjected to violence should be promptlyrepaired and rebuilt. Students affected by violence should be reintegrated intoother schools and universities as soon as possible. Violence on campuses mustnot be tolerated and strict action must be taken against all perpetrators. Besides,elected students’ unions must be encouraged and all barriers on legitimatestudent politics should be removed.

Documents

6-1 Education - 2014.pmd